I don’t know about you, but around these parts in southern Ontario we are now reaching that time of the summer when temperatures reach approximately a billion and eleven degrees outside. (Approximately). It happens every July and we always like to hope that maybe this year will be the year it doesn’t happen (there was that time a couple of years ago when it didn’t happen and everyone complained about how cold it was. I loved it), but then the first 30C+ day hits. And then the first week of nothing but 30C+ days. And then just when we’re getting used to that, the weather amps it up and decides that 40C+ days will be in the offing, and where’s the fun in a mild 30% humidity index when 80% would be so much more tortuous?

So basically all you can hope to do is cling to cold beverages and air conditioning if you’ve got it, while slowly going a little bit batty wondering if you’re never going to get to wear socks or things with sleeves ever again. Last week I finished a project and as a palette cleanser, I cast on myself a hat (my Union Station beret pattern, almost done and waiting to be blocked and flattened into beret form, in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted in Amethyst Heather), and something occurred to me.

Guys, July really is knitter’s time. No really, hear me out.

It’s stealth knitter’s time because nobody would expect you to be thinking about knitting right now. Any sensible person would be clutching a margarita on a shaded porch, not holding something made of wool and motion, surely? But even if you’re not feeling the pull towards the needles, the first thing you’ve got to consider about July is that, if your yarn stores are like mine, July is prime time for sales. It’s often when yarn stores make the transition from spring to fall inventory and have to make room for things, and don’t you want to help out your local yarn shop by giving them less to count? Of course you do. I can think of three Toronto stores off of the top of my head that like to plan sales for early July (or the whole month), and man, this is your time to shine. All those sweaters you were thinking about knitting last winter or spring but didn’t get the time for before you transitioned over to socks and lace? Stock up now. The yarn might well be on sale, and maybe even in the colour you couldn’t find last time you looked.

The other thing about being a knitter in the summer (and this can go hand in hand with the first thing, if you play your cards right and happen upon the right bargains), is that almost nobody is thinking about knitting winter projects. In the heat of July, there is really very little likelihood that there will be a run on the bulky alpaca or the Malabrigo chunky. All that bulky thick-and-thin stuff that you can whip off a gift cowl with in one or two skeins? Get it now. You could score a sweater’s worth or a few scarves’ worth of wintry wooly stuff right now pretty easily, then pull it out in October with a really smug expression when everybody else is trying to find it in the same colour that you already had stashed because you, the stealth summer knitter, were planning ahead.

While we’re thinking ahead to winter knitting projects, (and maybe taking a moment to imagine what it feels like to be standing in a snowbank – go ahead, I’ll wait, it’s highly recommendable) think back to last winter and the kinds of things you were furiously knitting around December. Were there things you were rapidly knocking off as gifts and needed more yarn for? Were you suddenly making hats for everyone in your family and found yourself short of 16″ circular needles for hats? I suddenly stopped and remembered that last winter when I was knitting hats, I was having the damndest time finding 16″ circulars in 4.5mm or 5.0mm, because everyone knits hats in December. You know when people are less likely to be buying up all those needles? July. My December self is going to thank me.

Very pretty hat! Hey, come down here with me! We’ve had about 5 days over 100 degrees! And of course it rained yesterday so the humidity is way up! I had to work out in it on Saturday and it was over 106 with the heat index.

Now I’ve got that out of my system, excellent tips. Now is also an excellent time to snap up yarn in the outgoing season’s colours, so they’re ready to dig out when the fashion cycle rolls round again. :D

We’ve had a record heat wave here in the Southeast. For the last few days, I’ve stared mournfully at my WIP’s while scarfing down iced tea. I wanted badly to knit but the thought was just too much. Last night, after a refreshing thunderstorm cleared the nasty humidity (temporarily), I knit a few rows on each WIP. I’m longing for crisp autumn weather.

This post totally made me smile- you are bang on! bring on the stealth knitting! Confession- I totally didn’t even leave the house today because it was a bajillion degrees out. I blamed it on the baby, ‘because she can’t regulate her body tempurature yet’. Really, I was totally not leaving my AC.

When I moved to Houston I was afraid my knitting would completely change. Summer is seven months long, and winters rarely amount to much more than a normal fall day back where I’m from. I imagined giving up my beloved wool, sentenced to a life of cotton and other plant fibers. Not true. This city takes its air conditioning seriously, and as a result I wear my handknits even more in the summer than I do in winter. Sweaters, shawls, and socks are part of my day to day summer wardrobe. And they’re all knit out of wool.